Poem: ‘I Remember al-Sayyab’
Mahmoud Darwish, translated by Taline Voskeritchian and Christopher Millis, 24 June 2004
I remember al-Sayyab,* his futile cries across the Gulf: ‘Iraq, Iraq, nothing but Iraq,’ And nothing answers but an echo. I remember al-Sayyab under these same Sumerian skies Where a woman surmounted the void To make us heirs to earth and exile. I remember al-Sayyab . . . Poetry is born in Iraq, So belong to Iraq – become a poet, my friend! I remember al-Sayyab did not find...
